X-factor: Gibson helps Cavs even series

May 30, 2007, 3:30 GMT

Cleveland, OH - LeBron James scored 25 points and dished out 11 assists, and the Cavaliers got a huge contribution from rookie Daniel Gibson in a 91-87 win over Detroit, as Cleveland evened the Eastern Conference finals after four games.

James, who also had seven rebounds, scored 13 points in the final quarter. Gibson had a career-best 21 points, hitting all 12 of his foul shots and getting 35 minutes of playing time thanks to a foot injury to Larry Hughes.

'He definitely gave us a lift throughout the whole game of attacking and getting to the rim,' James said of Gibson. 'A lot of guys don't understand that Daniel is much better than shooting an outside shot.'

Drew Gooden added 19 points and eight rebounds for Cleveland, which won both of its games at home and can go ahead in the series with a victory in Game 5 Thursday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Cavaliers were in the same position last year in the conference semifinals going to Detroit and won Game 5, but lost the final two games.

'Last year was based on us making the playoffs; this year is based on us getting to the championships, and we have to approach it with the same mentality that we had,' James said. 'Honestly, for the first four games we only have two games to show for it.'

Chauncey Billups had 23 points and nine rebounds, but he missed his last six shots from the field for Detroit, which ended 3-of-17 from three-point range. Richard Hamilton scored 19 points, Tayshaun Prince 15 and Antonio McDyess 12 for Detroit.

'I think the last two games here we had -- we were bad down the stretch,' Hamilton said. 'The most important thing was we actually turned the ball over, not getting shots up and we're a better team than that. We thrive on taking our time getting into what we want to get in to and getting a play and getting a shot up.'

Hughes started the game for Cleveland despite a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his foot. He had just two points in 16 minutes of court time before yielding to Gibson.

Rasheed Wallace's jumper moved the Pistons to a 77-74 lead with 7:29 remaining in regulation, but the Cavaliers went ahead for good with an ensuing nine points, ended by a Gooden jumper with 5:23 left.

The Cavs widened the lead to as many as eight down the stretch, at 87-79 on James' spectacular fadeaway jumper as the shot clock was about to expire before the Pistons rallied.

A Hamilton jumper got the visitors within 88-85 with 1:02 left, and the Pistons had a chance to tie after Wallace blocked a shot from Gooden. However, Billups missed a quick three-point try.

James then missed an off-balanced three, but Cleveland's Eric Snow raced down the loose ball on the long rebound and made one free throw with 18.5 seconds left.

McDyess tipped in his own miss with 4.7 seconds remaining, but James sealed the victory by nailing two from the charity stripe.

The Cavs took an early 11-4 lead, keyed by a triple from James, and they were ahead 26-22 after 12 minutes.

The Pistons continued to struggle shooting in the first half and fell behind 50-43 at the break. Although Billups had 18 points at the half, Detroit shot 15-of-38 in the first 24 minutes.

Billups' three-pointer and two free throws moved the Pistons to a 29-26 edge, but the Cavs came back with an 11-1 spurt, culminated by five straight points from Gibson. In fact, Gibson had nine straight Cleveland points at one juncture.

Cleveland led by as many as 12 in the quarter, before Detroit scored the final five points of the half.

An 8-0 run by the Pistons to start the third gave them the lead, but the home team see-sawed back in front with seven consecutive points, the last six of which were scored by Gibson. That included a technical free throw on a call on Chris Webber.

Detroit was ahead by as many as four later in the third quarter at 62-58 following a jumper from Antonio McDyess with 2 1/2 minutes left. It was 67-65 Detroit going into the fourth.

Game Notes

Cleveland won consecutive Eastern Conference finals games for the second time in team history (Games 3 and 4 in 1976 vs. Washington)...The Cavs are 6-1 at home during the playoffs...The Cavaliers set a team record for playoff wins in a season with 10...James has dished out at least seven assists in 13 of 14 playoff games this season...The Pistons, in the East finals for a fifth straight year, are 18-0 in series all-time when holding a 2-0 lead...Wallace was whistled for his fifth technical foul of the playoffs with 6:07 left in the game.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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